Paul Haggis Quotes

Number one, that it is smart to communicate and negotiate with your enemy instead of just waging war with bombs and weapons of mass destruction.

Condi Rice talks tough but she cannot be tough herself.

Iraq now says that it will, after all, destroy its missiles. President Bush said, 'Please, I used to pull the same trick. There'd be an intervention, I'd make a big show of pouring out the liquor and then there was a case under the floorboards.'

Poor Wilson did not understand that a frontier which is not defended with bayonets, force and honor cannot be secured by any other principle.

Diplomacy … means the art of nearly deceiving all your friends, but not quite deceiving all your enemies

Whenever we get involved in a war, the White House seems to have 3 priorities: We cannot appear to be losing; we must appear to be winning; we must look like we know what we are doing.

Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy

He that makes a good war makes a good peace.

In all their wars against the French they [the Americans] never showed such conduct, attention and perseverance as they do now.

You have to decide in advance whether you're ready go to war. If you guys are ready to send a million troops into Ukraine and fight World War III, you're going to do it without my support because I think that's a really foolish notion.

There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.

I have experienced the intensity of patriotism as a submarine officer, the ambitions of a competitive businessman, and the intensity of political debate. I have been sorely tempted to launch a military attack on foreigners, and have felt the frustration of having to negotiate with allies or even former enemies to reach a consensus instead of taking more decisive unilateral action.

If somebody prefers to work by means of sanctions, he is welcome to do so. But sanctions are a temporary measure. Firstly, they contradict the international law. Secondly, tell me where this policy of sanctions proved to be effective. The answer is nowhere.

If we can cultivate in the world the idea that aggressive war-making is the way to the prisoner's dock rather than the way to honors, we will have accomplished something toward making the peace more secure.

If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.

Isn't it strange how the leaders of nations can talk so eloquently about peace while they prepare for war? ... There is no way to make peace while preparing for war.

Surely the right course is to test the Russians, not the bombs.

The Executive should be able to repel and not to commence war.

When a nation issues ultimatums, it leaves no room for compromise and ensures that war will continue.

I considered the prevention of war as the test of our security policy; in addition to being able to rapidly and forcefully end any war forced upon us.

A general must be shot or befriended - but never hurt.

I'm not going to Russia and tell them to go to hell and think - that's not the way things are done. You chip away at something and you hope that there will be dialogue and that the situation can get better. You don't just go in there with guns blazing and say well, to hell with you because they're going to say to hell with you and get out of the country.

A really good diplomat does not go in for victories, even when he wins them.

Appeasement is feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last.

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.